Japan artisans whoop it up in Waikiki
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Every inch of sidewalk was taken and traffic moved at an even slower crawl yesterday in Waikiki as residents and visitors jostled for a view of the ninth annual Honolulu Festival Parade.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
A giant papier-mâché sumo wrestler towered over the crowd and dancers with dramatically painted faces whooped and twirled down Kalakaua Avenue.
A dancer from the Suga Yosakoi Narukoren group performs for the crowd at the ninth annual Honolulu Festival Parade. Yesterday's parade made its way down Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki and wrapped up a three-day celebration and cultural exchange between Hawai'i and Japan.
More than 100 Japanese ladies from Oita prefecture and from Hiroshima caressed the soft motions of hula while further down, the Navy's Pacific Fleet Band played "Anchors Aweigh." Lanterns brightened the twilight and at one point, as the Gekidan Champon from Nagasaki passed, there was sword play in the street.
"Ron, look!" Kathy Oswald of Allentown, Pa., called to her husband, whose spot was several feet down the sidewalk, just behind a piece of curb occupied by two tiny girls named Hana.
"Samurai!" Ron Oswald yelled back to his wife.
The Honolulu Festival, the largest event of its kind and growing larger through the years, is an exchange of art and culture between the people of Japan and Hawai'i.
Nearly 4,600 artisans and performers from 40 of Japan's 49 prefectures participated in the weekend event this year. The festival began on Friday and continued through yesterday, with performances, educational tours and gala parties culminating in yesterday evening's parade.
"They're still going," Nancy Hunsicker, also of Allentown, said to Kathy Oswald. Hunsicker pointed to the far end of the street where Suga Yosakoi Narukoren, a particularly lively group of young Japanese dancers, were dipping and twirling in a breathtakingly choreographed and costumed number.
"They've got more energy than I do," Oswald said.
The group's style of dance, performed at harvest celebrations, was created as a means of encouraging a speedy recovery from World War II, a bilingual master of ceremonies announced.
"That one gets our vote," said Glenn Hunsicker, Nancy's husband.
The Allentown group said they travel to Hawai'i every year in March, and always make it a point to catch the festival parade.
The two Hanas also seemed fascinated by the dance group, but declined to answer when asked whether they liked it best. The younger Hana instead took the opportunity to brag about their ages: 5 and 6.
Near them on the sidewalk, Shellie Sadler, the new wife of Tom Sadler, who is the new associate athletic director at the University of Hawai'i, sat with her 8-year-old daughter, Shea Hunter.
Four days after moving to Honolulu from Arizona, the two said they were tired from too much time on the beach, but delighted with their new lives.
Shea, who said she had decided it wasn't possible to meet anyone in Hawai'i who wasn't nice, seemed awestruck by the parade.
"It's different," she said, "but fun."
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
